It's just a dream
by Hebiaczek
Summary: KID gets shot after a heist and crashes with his glider. After he wakes up the world is... different. Is it just a dream? Or was everything up until now a nightmare?
1. The fall

Disclaimer: I don't own MK or DC, or any other manga/anime to be exact. I just like to let my imagination run loose :D

 **Hello and welcome~ Yes, I know – I really should update some other stories… Unfortunately lately I didn't have any time to write and now it was just so hard to start, everything coming out wrong, so I decided to write this little thing to get me going.**

 **This story is already finished – barely 3 short chapters and I do intend to update it fully soon~**

 **And, as always, this story in full was corrected by my lovely madelita :)**

 ** _So without further delay_**

 ** _Please enjoy and review~_**

 **Chapter 1: The fall**

Kaito managed to lose his pursuers and jumped off the rooftop, with the jewel safely hidden in his pocket. The heists were definitely too easy without his detectives to match his wits with~ He snapped his glider open and soared through the sky, when suddenly he felt a sharp pain pierce through his chest. He cried out and instinctively curled around the wound, making his glider lose the wind and start falling. It was so hard to straighten it again. All he could think about as the ground drew near was how it was possible for his feathered guardians to miss the sniper..?

 _*Snap!*_

With a terrified gasp, Kaito opened his eyes and jerked on his bed. Steadying his breath, he confirmed that the pain in his chest was only caused by his frantically beating heart. It was just a dream. He breathed out a laugh, letting go of the fright. But as the confusion passed, he felt something was wrong, it was just that couldn't put his finger on it. The room seemed... different? Bigger? He frowned and heard that the television downstairs was turned on. Did his mother return? Not that it would really surprise him. He looked down at his hand and froze. His fingers weren't as long as usual and were a bit chubbier. He focused on his breathing to keep himself calm and got off the bed... or rather nearly fell out of it. It was huge! No... he was small! Abandoning the efforts to stay calm, he rushed to the door and to the bathroom. He was too short to reach the mirror, so he climbed on the laundry basket. The reflection that looked back at him was himself, just... years younger. What the hell?! As he tried to make anything out of this, he once again noticed the noises from the television. He leapt off the basket and ran downstairs.

"Mom!" It wasn't panic in his voice, in the end he didn't panic, it was just confusion.

"Kaito, it's late, you should be sleeping." A familiar male voice scolded him and the tiny magician stopped in his tracks, seeing a man get up from the couch, where his mother was still sitting and was looking at the boy with confusion. "Did you have a nightmare?" He asked with concern.

Kaito could have sworn the world stopped that instant and all he could gasp out was: "Dad..?"

 ** _Thank you for your interest and hope to see you next chapter *bow* ;)_**


	2. When silence takes it all

_Disclaimer: Nope, still didn't get that ownership... Bummer, huh?_

 **This chapter is as well corrected by lovely madelita~ Special thanks to her as always :)**

 **Chapter 2: When silence takes it all**

His father smiled softly at him.

"Yes, Kaito, it's me." He got closer and tried to pick up the boy, but the tiny magician jerked away.

"But how?! You're... you're..." His voice failed him, as his mind was recalling the heat of the flames, the rushing people and hands pulling him away to safety, away from his father. He shut his eyes to make the unwanted dampness go away.

"Kaito..." The man started with his calm and ever-so patient voice, but was cut off by the child.

"You're dead!" He cried out finally, desperately pushing away the sorrow. He would not break his Poker Face in front of his father's mirage! No matter how much it hurt...

The man, who could not be Toichi, sighed and scooped the child in his arms. "It was just a bad dream, Kaito." He explained calmly. "I'm alright, see?" He gently grabbed the child's hand and placed it on his chest, so the boy could feel his heartbeat.

Kaito swallowed tickly and stared at his hand. Slowly he moved his gaze to the man's face. He knew every trick and way to change your appearance all too well, but he didn't notice any signs of make-up. He reached to the man's face, tracing with his fingers behind the ear, where a mask should end, he pinched the skin, knowing what sensation to look for, even with the best skin imitations. And nothing..?

"Aww~" Chikage cooed from the couch. "Isn't he the cutest thing when he's so frightened and confused~?"

Toichi grimaced and slowly turned to her, careful not to disturb his son's feeble inspection. "Not that you scaring him to death had any influence on his dreams." He replied with just a tiny hint of sarcasm.

"Oh come on. I'm doing it for his own good. I want my boy to be fearless when he grows up~!"

Toichi grumbled bitterly. "Well, afflicting him with ichthiophobia is probably not the best way to achieve that... I am pretty sure he would be better off without it."

His mother always was the only one who could make his father break the perfect calm. Probably one of the reasons he cherished her so much...

Kaito couldn't hold back a small smile creeping on his lips. They never fought each other, always discussed things like this, maybe adding small jabs here and there. And they never hid their conversations from him, allowing him to add his point of view, if he wanted to, so he would always feel like an important part of the family. When he still had a family… He leaned closer to his father.

Chikage rolled her eyes. "Ugh... It was a week ago and it was an accident. And I already apologized countless times. Besides~ I'm sure he'll grow out of it soon enough. Right, Kai-chan~?" She grinned at her son.

Kaito let out a wry chuckle. She couldn't be further away from the truth...

"Still... I really would prefer you to be more mindful about him being still a child."

"Oh~? Aren't you being a bit of a hypocrite mister 'always keep your Poker Face'?" She asked with sour tone. "Kids should be natural and fear is a natural instinct." She pointed out, as she always did when they had this argument.

Kaito nearly forgot how often they did talk about this.

"Please don't mess my words dear. The last thing I want for Kaito is to cling to his mask and start bottling up his real emotions." He looked down with a fond smile at the owlishly staring child. "Besides, he doesn't have any problems letting his Poker Face go. And if he will, I'll be there to remind him to always put away the masks after his performance."

Was it really like that? How could he have forgotten... While deep in depression, looking at his father's painting, all he could remember was echoes of his scolding. Never recalling anything else. He felt his eyes sting, but couldn't bring himself to let the tears out. He wasn't able to.

"But you weren't..." He mumbled, barely audible.

"Hm? What is it, Kaito?" Toichi asked with slight worry that his son still haven't managed to shake the nightmare off.

"You weren't there..." The boy managed to say with shaking voice, cuddling tighter into those strong arms, closer to the familiar scent. "They killed you... you..."

"Kaito, the nightmare is over and I'm-" Toichi tried to reason with his son, running circles with his hand over the narrow back.

The boy didn't let him finish and cut in strongly with accusing tone. "You let them kill you! And you died because you're KID..."

The hand on his back stopped for a brief second and his mother gasped. "How-"

"What are you talking about?" Toichi cut her off with his calm tone.

But the tiny brief hesitation was enough. An idea of time travel was too farfetched, so if he was right about this... Then the lonely life he remembered wasn't a nightmare. His chase, desperation and the flames. It was reality and this warmth he was experiencing... This was only a dream. But that could mean that in reality he was currently dead or dying. And this was just a happy projection of his mind. He decided it didn't matter, because maybe it was also... Maybe it was his chance..? Kaito clenched his tiny fists on his father's shirt. He needed an answer, he needed it so desperately.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" _'Because I was too small and he was protecting me.'_ His inner voice answered to himself, so he went on to a diferent topic. "The tape... you left me a tape, dad! What did you want to tell me? Please dad... Do you- Do you want me to finish your work? To find and destroy Pandora? Was that it?"

Toichi's eyes widened a fracture at the mention of the cursed stone and his expression melted into a soft smile. "How do you know about this, Kaito?"

"Please, dad... I need to know. I love you so much. But this is just a dream... Tell me what you wanted me to do... Please..."

"Kaito..." Toichi cut himself off and turned his gaze to Chikage, as if giving her a silent apology, before returning with his gaze to his son and tightening his grip. His voice turned eerie, resembling that of what Kaito heard on the ruined cassette. "You are right. I am Kaitou KID..." His lips were still moving, but no voice came out and Kaito couldn't make the words out, because of the haze that was blinding him.

"No... Dad. I can't hear you. It can't end here... Dad, please speak louder..!" But it was in vain, he couldn't hear even himself.

He was so close to finally getting an answer. It couldn't end like this..!

The last thing he remembered was a faint memory of arms embracing him and the familiar scent surrounding him...

 _ ***bows* See you at the last chapter~**_


	3. Living again

Disclaimer: Yay~! Bought out all of DC/MK characters... not ;) And I do doubt it will ever happen.

 **And now for the last chapter of this short story - I do hope you will enjoy~  
**

 **Of course special thanks to my supporting beta reader madelita :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Living again**

* * *

Kaito opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of his room. He raised his arm and this was the first time he felt so disappointed to see his long, slim fingers. It was all just a cruel dream. What was he expecting? At least he wasn't dying… He breathed out a tired chuckle and rubbed his eyes. This shouldn't have influenced him so much. In the end he was used to having worse nightmares. Without looking around, he got up and went to the bathroom to sprinkle his face with cold water. The reflection that looked back at him from the mirror was of a composed but slightly tired teen. No sign of the storm raging inside. Soon enough a mischievious smile would bloom on it, so nobody would recognize that anything could be wrong with him. This indiferent face was probably the closest he could get to the truth. He went back to his room and looked at a clock. It was still 3 AM, so by all means he should've return to bed, but despite how tired he felt, he really didn't want to sleep anymore. Unfortunately, all his preparations for school and the upcoming heist were already done, so he didn't excatly have anything to occupy himself with. He wondered briefly about getting shot at the begining of the dream. He never had any prophecy dreams, but then again, it wouldn't hurt to leave the heist scene by foot and send a dummy in air instead this time. Better safe than sorry. And it would give him a bit of work for now. He turned to enter the secret room and stared at his father with a blank expression for a moment. He reached out to gently trace a finger over his face.

'I miss you.' He mouthed with a fond smile and pushed the painting to open the path.

He yawned widely, while walking down the narrow stairs and bit back a curse, as he missed a step and stumbled down. Out of reflex, he grabbed a shelf to prevent himself from falling flat on the ground. Now wouldn't that be the sight? Kaitou KID canceling his heist because of a leg he broke in his hideout. He chuckled and shook his head, turning to the shelf to put the stuff he moved back in place. He reached for the broken tape recorder and frowned. There seemed to be something underneath. He picked up the device and felt his heart skip a beat. Innocently lying on the shelf was an envelope, addressed to him by his father's handwriting. He reached for it in a daze while his mind started running in circles. How could he have missed this? He was positive he searched the room throughout so many times already. Did he neglect picking up the recorder..? How..? Without breathing, he opened the envelope, not daring to guess what was inside.

 _'Dear Kaito. As I said on the tape this letter is a mere copy of what I've recorded there, in case the cassette wouldn't last. I'm afraid there is nothing more I can add to that.'_

Kaito breathed a hysterical laugh. How many times did he curse his deceased father for entrusting all of his last words to a feeble tape? He prayed a silent apology for ever doubting him, before continuing the letter. He recalled telling his father in the dream that the tape was broken, but this couldn't possibly have influenced reality... Right? He shook his head dismissing the thought as soon as it came and continued reading.

 _'I was Kaitou KID. Unfortunately, if you are reading this I most likely failed to fake my death. I am very sorry, my son...'_

Kaito swallowed hard and absently wondered why his throat was so tight. He probably should consider adding air conditioning to the room. That was most likely it – too dry air, his practical self reasoned. In the end a mere letter, even from his father, with the long awaited explanation, wouldn't be able to break his perfected Poker Face. Then faint words echoed in his mind.

 _"I would never want Kaito to cling to his mask and start bottling up his feelings. If he ever forgets to take them off after his performance, I will be there to remind him to do just that."_

Thick tears fell from Kaito's eyes as all the pain and weight he's been carrying came crushing down. But the sorrow brought also relief. He didn't have to lie to himself anymore, he was allowed to let it go. He cried, clenching on the letter until dawn, before he was able to fully read it.

As he met Aoko to go to school together, she noticed the faint redness around his eyes and asked about it with concern. He smiled at her, but with a small true smile, rather than the wide, fake grin and replied with a mixture of pain and joy in his tone.

"I met dad in my dream~"

* * *

 **And my dear friends that is all~ I** **sincerely** **hope you liked this short story. Also, while I do understand you would have preferred if I added the full letter from Toichi, I decided to leave it to your imagination, so everybody could get their perfect last words ;)**

 ** _*bows* See you in another story~_**


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